ARRIVAL AT BANANA — DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN — JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND — SKIRMISH WITH NATIVES OF INTERIOR

The Congo Free State, as most people now know (though four or five years ago few knew of more than its existence), is, roughly speaking, a country from which the Congo and its tributaries draw their water supply. It extends from the Congo mouth, on the Atlantic coast, to the western shore of Lake Tanganyika; and from the fifth degree north latitude to the thirteenth degree south latitude. All the important tributaries of the Congo, with one exception in the district known as French Congo, are within these boundaries.

Large tracts of this enormous space of country in equatorial Africa are covered by the great Congo forest. Of the world's great